EPS300 Gripping Power Embedded Electrostatic Chuck Power Supply

The Gripping Power, Inc. EPS300 high voltage DC power supply was designed to drive semiconductor wafer electrostatic clamping devices in all process conditions, with years of reliable performance. The EPS300 can replace the INVAX 1360 ESC power supply in most applications.

The EPS300 is microprocessor based and is fully programmable. Two remote operating modes, digital and RS-232, are provided. The unit has a 1kV or 2kV, true floating, bipolar output. The high voltage output is continuously variable, with dynamic output voltage tracking and user defined current limiting. The EPS300 has been field proven in RIE, PECVD and PVD processes.

Serial RS-232 and digital remote control modes are provided. All electrical interfaces are isolated from the high-voltage output and are ground referenced. The high-voltage can be turned on and off via a single digital bit input. Two digital output signals are provided to minimize interface problems when replacing mechanical clamp mechanisms with electrostatic chucks.

The EPS300 can store up to 10 user defined programs that control the clamping and declamping operation. Each program can be up to 32 steps long. The unit may be directed to execute any one of the ten stored programs, giving the user maximum flexibility in both the setup phase, when testing clamp reliability, and in production operation. All ten of the EPS300 programs are stored in nonvolatile RAM and can be downloaded to a host computer. The EPS300 programming command set provides the user optimum flexibility for developing sophisticated clamping algorithms for multiple process conditions.